


The scent of blood...

by Basilintime



Series: Prompts [4]
Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Drifting, M/M, Memories, Tumblr Prompt, blood mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 17:27:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15868320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Basilintime/pseuds/Basilintime
Summary: A prompt fill for a sensory prompt list. "The scent of blood..."





	The scent of blood...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KateDoesntExist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KateDoesntExist/gifts).



 

      The scent of blood, thick and cloying in his throat, was the first thing Newton became aware of. His tongue darted out over his lips and he tasted it there too; salt and copper and memories.

      He was a child running free and wild through the fields behind Uncle Iilia's house when he tripped; foot catching a stone and he came down hard on rocks and dirt and old corn stalks half bent over. The palms of his hands stung and bled; his knees were scraped open and filled with grime and as he tried to push his glasses back into place he caught that rusty scent and the tears started to pool in his eyes...

      He was a teenager in classes where everyone else was far older than him. They were doing a lab on some of the basics; blood typing and the likes. His lab partners were an older pair who he'd been hoping to becomes friends with. They had seemed so cool back then, smart and reckless. He could overlook that he had to do most of the work.       

      "Do you want to find out what blood type you have, Geiszler?" 

      "I already...ah, yeah! Yeah, that'd be cool," Newton said though he still felt uncertain. How would they get a blood sample? He was about to suggest they see if the professor had any clean syringes when the older boy picked up one of the scalpels meant for dissection and looked at him expectantly. He chewed on his bottom lip feeling nervous but they wouldn't do more than a pinprick, right? He offered his hand and the scalpel slipped through tissue with little resistance. The older kid squeezed to get a few drops out and then told him to wrap it in some paper towel. His finger stung the rest of the lab and he wrote out his report with tears blurring his vision; the teacher confronted him when he noticed the wad of paper towel that had been bled through a while before the end. He had accidentally left blood smeared on his assignment and the boys had said he'd done it to himself. Newton was filled with distrust and his finger throbbed and the scalpel sat sharp...

      Newton was in the lab later than he should have been but new samples had come in. He needed to make sure they were all preserved, that the tests that needed to be done before the tissue was fixed and prepared for examination could get done. Hermann was still there too for some reason; standing over by his chalkboards debating an equation he'd written earlier in the day. Newton was tired; exhausted and worn out as he tried to find where he'd put the last of the stash of slides he needed. 

      "Will you please quiet down over there, Dr. Geiszler, I am trying to focus." Hermann's voice called out to him from across the looming lab space and Newton could feel his patience snap as he spun around to try and look at him. His arm caught something on the turn but it barely registered as he stepped back around one of the tanks.

      "You know, if people wouldn't move my stuff around-"

      "If you would not leave your things sitting across every surface of the lab-"

      "I wouldn't have to bang stuff around looking for what I need,  _Hermann_. I know where everything is. I put it where I know I'll find it!"

      "Newton, are you bleeding?"

      "Don't try to change the subject, Hermann, I'd really appreciate it if you left my shit alone. I'm sorry some of it spills over to your side sometimes but you don't need all that damn space. What are you doing?" Hermann had grabbed a wad of paper towels from besides the closest sink and was stomping over to him as Newton's irritation grew. His arm was throbbing a little now and Hermann maybe looked a little worried...Newton looked down and saw blood running down his not yet tattooed skin and dripping to the floor at an alarming rate. He frowned in confusion as Hermann grabbed him, pressing the paper towel against the gash to apply pressure as Newton looked back and realized he'd hit the bone saw when he'd turned around. He felt nauseous as he pressed his own hand down on the paper towels knowing he needed to get to medical, clinging onto Hermann and...

      There was a terrible roar and flashes of sewn together flesh. A hivemind screaming out over his own and then sudden silence. Silence and familiar hands and that cloying scent of blood thick and flooding his senses as it ran down the back of his throat; down over his lips. Newton had come back around to himself sitting on the floor feeling a terror rooted deep in his soul. Hermann made him sit, got him some water and with a worried expression ran off to find Stacker Pentecost to tell him what Newt had done. Newton needed to go to medical; he knew this but he was shaking like a leaf hardly able to even take a drink of water without spilling it all over the place. His legs felt like jelly and he could still taste the blood in his throat. Hermann had suddenly reemerged with Pentecost at his side and he was asking Newton to do it again.

      And they made him do it again and again and again and again. After a while the blood stopped but this was just more concerning than not. But this time had been different. It hadn't been Alice in his mind; it hadn't been the hive mind pulling his strings and forcing the pain and hopelessness to be confused with pleasure and joy. It hadn't been  _them_ , he wasn't  _them,_ not anymore. Familiar hands cupped his face, a voice he recalled from years ago and the scent of blood thick and cloying as Newton opened his eyes to find Hermann looking at him expectantly. 

      "Hey Hermms...long time no see, huh?" Hermann gave a soft disbelieving laugh and Newton felt free. 


End file.
